fake prince

Chapter 448 Black Mine

Fucheng·Restaurants

There are dozens of people sitting downstairs, in small groups, the second and third floors are separated by a screen, especially on the third floor, the floor is polished with tung oil. It is noon at this moment, and a woman sings softly.

"So, the prefect Qi came back from the provincial capital in the morning and brought back the silver?" Su Ziji sat at the table in the corner seat, pushed a glass of wine over, and asked at the same time.

"Thank you for the reward, my lord!" Shi Chang drank the wine and continued: "In the early morning, he took several county soldiers and rode to the province overnight to cry to the governor."

"What happened in the Governor's Mansion, we have no way to follow, so we don't know, but when Zhifu Qi left the Governor's Mansion for the first time, he cried while walking, and then was called back by the Governor's Mansion, when he came out again , have brought out two boxes of silver."

Su Ziji's mind flashed Qi Hongxin's dark, thin and straight appearance, and he really couldn't think of it. To many people, he looked like a stinky and hard rock, crying while walking.

As soon as he thought about it, he subconsciously fought a cold war, which showed how inconsistent this behavior was with his own impression, and it was no wonder that even Governor Zhao, who had a bad relationship with Qi Hongxin, was startled by tears, and in the end he gave money away.

"I thought Qi Hongxin was decisive in killing and attacking, but I didn't expect that he could bend or bend."

"But seeing that he has been in the prefect for more than ten years, although there is a reason for his birth, it may also be related to his inability or unwillingness to make money."

"What is the reason for this person's behavior?"

Su Ziji sighed, and couldn't help being speechless because of the complicated emotions he had had several times for this person in the past few days.

"Wait a little longer." Su Ziji said to himself.

"Master!" At this time, Cen Rubai came in from the wine shop, searched around, saw Su Ziji, walked over, nodded and smiled at Shi Chang in casual clothes.

The ten soldiers who came to Fucheng with Su Ziji were doing business for Su Ziji almost during this time, but some of them could only be used for ordinary tasks, while others could be sent to follow up.

The one in front of me is very good, because when Su Ziji communicated with the wild Taoist, he let the wild Taoist control the caravan to help solve the family's livelihood problems, so he could use it with more confidence.

"You continue to stare at the magistrate's yamen, and report to me if you take any action." Su Ziji looked at Cen Rubai after letting the chief go away.

"Mr. Cen, sit down." Pointing, Su Ziji said.

Cen Rubai was polite for a while, then sat down, took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, then lowered his voice, and reported to Su Ziji the information he got from his friends in the world.

"Young master, the mines in Shun'an Mansion are generally small and scattered. Of course, most of them are government mines. Small mines are uneconomical for the government to mine, so most of them are turned into private mines. But I found that there are at least dozens of private mines, not the imperial court. Licensed private mines, this is a black mine, and there is also a gold mine.”

"Although the output of the gold mine is not high, only 500 taels of gold a year, it can be a big fuss."

It turned out that what Cen Rubai and the others found was a black mine.

This is a very important matter. In the territory of Shun'an Prefecture, there are many black mines in private. This is not only, there are also gold mines in the black mines.

When this kind of thing is exposed, it will definitely shock the entire prefecture, even the province.

But why hasn't it been exposed until now, and it still needs a secret investigation to find out?It can be seen that the water inside must be very deep.

The first time Su Ziji heard about this, his expression changed.

"I never expected that the seemingly ordinary small Shun'an Mansion actually has so many black mines and gold mines."

"This matter is really beyond my expectation. To be able to hide this matter until now, it can't be a private handwriting, it must have the shadow of the government."

"Qi Hongxin just took office, and he had to go to the province to beg for money, so he must not know about it."

"Before he arrives, he must have carefully checked the accounts and the mines in the mansion. If he can hide the truth from this veteran official who has been the magistrate for more than ten years, it must not be one or two officials involved in this matter."

Thinking about being arrested because of Shun'an Mansion's 70 taels shortfall, together with several officials including the former magistrate, Su Ziji thought deeply.

"These black mines, the former prefect must be inseparable. No, the former prefect alone may not be able to cover the sky with one hand. I am afraid there are other ways."

Even if he couldn't guess, Su Ziji still couldn't help admiring the boldness of these people who died in pursuit of money.

"This court allows private mining, but gold and silver are not included. It is a monopoly of the imperial court. Private gold mining, but there is a very heavy punishment, and the crime is no less than treason."

"After all, private individuals, especially local officials, control the gold mines, so it is easy to raise soldiers privately and support themselves. This is something that the dynasty that has just founded the country for more than 30 years cannot tolerate. Once caught, the worst case may be executed at a later date."

"However, the nature of the gold mine is special. The 500 taels of gold per year is actually only 5000 taels of silver. If you have no other ideas, why would you need to take such a risk?"

"Unless..." Su Ziji's eyelids twitched slightly, and he thought of a possibility.

When he raised his head to look at Cen Rubai, the other party looked at him at the same time. The two looked at each other. Cen Rubai said in a low voice, "However, the ownership of the mine owners is not centralized. Except for a small number of gentry, they are monopolized by the three major gangs."

"They are the Dragon and Tiger Gang, the Xinyi Gang, and the Jianghe Gang."

Cen Rubai said: "But after I investigated, I found that these three gangs seemed to be controlled by someone."

"King Qi, or King Shu?" Su Ziji asked his answer.

Cen Rubai looked at Su Ziji with surprise, and shook his head again: "It may be the King of Qi, but the people of the King of Qi should be the gentry, not the three major gangs."

The gang is actually the lowest level of society, and it is unlikely that the king of Qi and the king of Shu will.

"However, there should be a deep connection with the government. The prefect and several officials who were arrested should also be involved, but they should only play a cover-up role in this matter. In fact, the direct control of the gold mine and the mine , but gangs."

"So, even if a few officials are arrested, except that there may have been chaos at the beginning, but it soon subsides, and it will not have any real impact. Even because the mining has been on the right track, it can go into the dark, and it will be more hidden in the future. .”

If they hadn't just arrived at Shun'an Mansion at this juncture, and the young master specially ordered the Jianghu people to investigate carefully, it would really be impossible to discover this matter.

Cen Rubai lowered his eyes and couldn't help thinking, could this be the so-called providence?

"That's right!" Cen Rubai said again with a solemn expression: "I went to the gold mine myself. Although I had the help of my friends, I was almost discovered. I suspect that among the three major gangs, there are monsters hiding in it."

"Monster clan?" Su Ziji frowned slightly, frowning.

Cen Rubai nodded: "Yes, I almost found me. The friend who brought me there that day was very powerful. It wasn't for his help, or I couldn't escape smoothly."

"Monster clan?" Su Ziji had a flash of inspiration, stood up, paced back and forth, and suddenly stopped, thoughtful, which made sense.

(End of this chapter)